Tag: environmentalism

I decided to drive through the Marbo Cave area one last time and something magical happened that I was not expecting: The Matson Corporation had brought an entire cargo container to clear up trash from the area. It seems that some people do care about that area. Here’s a short video of what I saw and a time lapse of me clearing out a storm drain.

Like this:

I’ve put quite a lot of time into trying to clean up the area around and the road leading up to the Marbo Cave. The illegal dumping never seems to stop in this area and unless someone actually receives punishment for some of the following actions there isn’t really much that I can do on my own:

Start tire fires

Dump large appliances

Torching a vehicle to dispose of it

Dump large amounts of household trash

Dump trash or appliances in the middle of the road

I suppose that I might clear a little more brush out of the area but my time on Guam grows short. I really have no desire to serve as someone’s personal garbage service and would rather do some more work at the only animal shelter on the island: Guam Animals in Need (GAIN). I’ll close this post off with some of the last photos I took of my cleanup in the area. Perhaps one day a group of people will care enough to keep what should be a beautiful area relatively clean? I see a cop car drive through the area once in a while, perhaps they’ll catch a few of the people who are too lazy to find a dumpster?

Like this:

Don’t you just love it when Proud Party Progs ask about who would build the roads without socialism? Let’s look at what one Ms. Ellen McPhretes had to say on the issue:

I’ll have more to add later about the glorious comments of Ellen, but for now lets talk about roads maintained by the government. In case you haven’t heard, the El Niño Southern Oscillation is bringing some heavy rainstorms to North America. San Diego (along with the rest of Southern California) doesn’t seem to deal very well with rain. I happen to live in the Midway District and was greeted with a couple feet of water on Midway Drive due to a storm that dropped a half inch of rain.

I just can’t be impressed enough with the job that the City of San Diego is doing with the roads; it’s another shining example of government efficiency. Compared to many other roads in San Diego though, Midway wasn’t that bad and at least passable in a truck with decent ground clearance. Miramar Road and Kearny Mesa Boulevard were covered in four feet at some spots.

“The City Council’s Environment Committee Wednesday unanimously called for the city of San Diego to declare a state of emergency to help get storm channels cleared before the brunt of El Niño storms arrive.

The committee members pointed to Tuesday night’s lightning-punctuated rainfall as an example of what this winter’s climate conditions might bring. According to the National Weather Service, 1.09 inches of rain fell at Lindbergh Field, a record for the date and already surpassing the November average.

Because of environmental concerns, it’s a laborious process for San Diego to acquire the permits needed to remove vegetation and debris from the city’s 133 miles of storm channels. At a news conference before the committee meeting, Councilman David Alvarez said the State Regional Water Board can take two years to process permit applications for scheduled storm channel maintenance.”

Two years to receive permission to clear some garbage, plants, and animals from storm drains. The Democratic People’s Republic of Kalifornia (DPRK) has some amazing laws doesn’t it?

“In emergency situations, such as when a major storm is imminent, the city can go to the Army Corps of Engineers to get the necessary permits, the councilman said. However, that has to happen a few days before a storm hits.

He said an emergency declaration could help the city obtain a blanket permit to clear out the most clogged channels well in advance of dangerous storms.”

“David Gibson of the water board said the governor is considering such a declaration, but it’s unknown when it would be issued. He said the agency has expedited city requests in the past and invited San Diego officials to submit permit applications.

The proposed emergency declaration was met with some reluctance from the mayor’s office because of previous litigation.

‘Five years ago, the city declared a state of emergency to clear the Tijuana River Valley and was sued, resulting in years of litigation that postponed maintenance work,’ mayoral spokesman Matt Awbrey said.

‘Doing so again could open up taxpayers to more lawsuits, fines and actually end up delaying work further,’ Awbrey said. ‘We are unable to move faster than state and federal regulations will allow, so the mayor is asking regulators for relief so we can take all necessary actions to prepare San Diego in the event of an El Niño storm event.’

Alvarez and committee member Marti Emerald said the city might get sued, and lose, but in the meantime would be protecting property.”

There’s no winning for San Diego; if you clean the storm drains you get sued by the DPRK and lose. If you don’t clean the drains, there’s millions in property damage. Maybe by the time the next El Niño hits the clogged stormed drains will be clear? The drains that are currently clear will probably be clogged though. With the way that the DPRK is currently going I’m pretty certain the only way to win is to leave the state.

It seems that the Chinese will start construction of a canal through Nicaragua at the end of December. A Chinese business magnate by the name of Wang Jing and his Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company (NKHD) made an agreement with Nicaragua in June 2013 to build a canal and actually seem to be getting ready to start construction now. Engineers are starting to show up and perform surveys, analyze the soil, and assess environmental impact although the Nicaraguan government already agreed to allow the NKHD to own the land for then next fifty years prior to making any assessments. Chinese contractors have gone to various peoples homes to determine property values, though aren’t required to pay any fair amount for their land. NKHD isn’t even required to actually finish the project nor can it be held responsible under the agreement for anything that goes wrong. The agreement was authorized under legislation that was rushed through the legislature in seven days and no public input for the law occurred. The Nicaraguan Constitution was recently re-written just to allow the agreement and legislation for the canal to pass.

Many Nicaraguans are opposing the plans to build the canal with many of President Ortega’s former supporters and former revolutionaries claiming they are ready to fight the army and police. I find it hard to blame them, they didn’t really have much say in the matter and if anything goes wrong or the canal ends up not being profitable there’s really very little Nicaragua can do about it. I wonder what would happen if the canal is built yet unprofitable or if one of the two active volcanoes along the route goes a little too active? Maybe good ties with Communist China wasn’t such a great idea? What if enough people join the New Contras and actively fight against the government and NKHD? Only time will tell I guess…